


With Every Broken Bone

by Youremyalways



Series: I Won’t Let You Die [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 6x09, Bellarke, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I won’t let you die, Radio Calls, Season 6 Episode 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 08:18:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19422097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youremyalways/pseuds/Youremyalways
Summary: “You and I both know that you’re screwed here. Either Clarke survives, or you both die. There is no way this plays out that you win. So shut up, follow me, and let’s save the one person who can actually be saved.”“You know, I was wondering what Clarke saw in you. You’re not as badass and selfish as the other one. More self righteous. But after that,” She raised her eyebrows, “I get it.”“You’re impossible.” He groaned.“And you’re right. We are both gonna die. Can you live with that?”





	With Every Broken Bone

**Author's Note:**

> I’m gonna make this a little miniseries on ways the “I won’t let you die” line could go down.
> 
> So this is number 1: In the Woods
> 
> Enjoy and spread some love!!! 
> 
> Xoxo

The second Josephine started talking Bellamy made a promise to himself that he wasn’t going to take the bait. It became apparent pretty quickly that she was going to run her mouth the entire time they were alone. Maybe it was her sick way of trying to talk him out of this, or maybe she was just trying to distract herself. 

It didn’t really matter. 

Anything that distracted him from saving Clarke and getting the hell out of the woods was wasted energy and time.

So, he decided early on that he would let her talk herself in circles. He would let her mock him and his family, let her scream and yell. He went into the woods with one intention, and nothing was going to distract him from that, especially when the clock was ticking. 

He just didn’t expect Josephine to have access to all of Clarke’s memories.

That made everything more complicated.

They hadn’t even made it a quarter of a mile into the dense forest when Josephine started shifting from well-aimed quips and degrading remarks to more well placed and sensitive words. Bellamy almost regretted not feeding into her initial bait, as now she was looking just to make him crack and going to the depths of Clarke’s mind to do so. She was starting to put real effort into finding sore spots and shoving wrenches into them, twisting her fingernails in already inflamed wounds. 

“I hope the spy doesn’t mind you sneaking off into the woods to save the mass murderer,” She laughed, “I mean, I’ve had bad taste in men before, believe me, but you?” 

Before she was just being blatantly annoying, but now? Now she was taking headshots. 

Bellamy scoffed and turned his head backwards to glare at the girl wearing Clarke’s face. She had a wicked smirk resting on her lips, eyes wide in amusement. His eyes immediately softened when they landed on her wrists, which were starting to turn pink with the chaffing from the cuffs. He hated how much his heart ached to remove them. 

“Oh, did I hit a sore spot? My bad. Maybe we can play a game. How about: ‘Who’d you rather?’” She announced, stepping forward slightly and flailing her fingers out like she was sprinkling confetti.

Bellamy laughed internally. Yeah, those cuffs aren’t coming off.

“Is this fun for you?” He asked with a sigh, turning back around and giving a firm tug to the chain tied around her hands, pulling her forward. 

“Ow!” She yelled with way too much exaggeration, “If you do get this bitch back, your gonna have to explain the giant cuts she has on her wrists from your  _ manhandling _ !”

God, she could read him almost as well as Clarke could, and that frightened him more than anything. 

“You know, the way these cuffs dig into my wrists reminds me of something.”

Bellamy tugged on the rope again.

“Primefaya! That’s what it is.” She snapped her fingers as the lightbulb went off, “This body was covered in burns. I’m talking all the degrees. I mean, seriously, you should see the scars on her. So, so painful. Clarkey put a gun up to this pretty head a few times, almost pulled the trigger too. But you had nothing to do with any of that, of course. Right?”

He had to bite deep into his bottom lip to keep from snapping back. 

“You know, her last thought before she closed her eyes was of your face,” Josephone’s voice was suddenly lighter, like she was telling a little kid their grandparent passed away or that the new puppy got under the fence, “Well, your face imploding in space actually. You know she never knew if what she did even worked? For all she knew she failed and you all died because of her. Six years with that kind of pressure resting on her shoulders?” Her voice shot back up again, “Yikes!”

God, he knew that. He  _ knew _ . 

Every word she said made his heart ache more. He should ignore her, he knew that, but then a whole other, bigger part of him  _ was  _ listening to her, trying to differentiate the exaggerations and lies from what was real in Clarke’s mind. 

“You’re doing so much to rescue her. Ever consider that maybe Clarke doesn’t want to be saved?”

And that struck a chord. It was the first thing that made him stop dead in his footsteps and turn to look at her fully. He could ignore the rest of it, most of it easily.

But he had considered it, and it scared him to death.

“Shut up.” He bit out through clenched teeth, the words coming out agitated and raw.

“Oh, so you have,” She smiled overly wide, “Face it Bellamy, you’re doing what you want, not what she wants. After I showed her you taking my father’s deal, she was practically pleading to go belly up. Maybe you’re just a pretty anchor, keeping her from peace.” 

He shook his head, using every cell in his body to try to keep the tears from surfacing in his eyes, “That’s her choice to make.” 

Jospehine scoffed, “Sounds like almost everything is.”

Bellamy shook his head and looked a little to the left, not able to take looking at her face any longer. 

“Lord only knows why you wanna save her in the first place.” Josephine sighed, eyebrows furrowing, “She’s a piece of work. God knows she gives me enough headaches.” 

Bellamy’s head snapped around at that. 

He turned to look at Josephine, heart suddenly pounding so hard he could hear the blood pulsing with sonic volume in his ears. Clarke wasn’t just alive, she was… in her head. 

And if she was in her head, then maybe… 

“Clarke, if you can hear me, I won’t let you die.” 

For a second he swore something flashed across her face. Her upturned eyebrow lowered and the smug smirk painted across her face melted into a light smile. It was her eyes that really threw him though. They softened the same exact way they did when he admitted he wanted to run away after it was revealed that Jaha was still alive. He ached to reach out, his heart screaming at him that it was  _ her _ .

“Sorry,” The high pitch of her voice made his stomach drop to the ground alongside his hope, “Clarke’s not able to come to the phone right now.”

“So help me God, if you hurt her…” 

“Relax. Number one, in Sanctum, I’m the God.” She jeered, an arrogance in her voice that made Bellamy’s skin crawl, “And Clarke’s not hurt she’s just… detained. Trapped inside her own mindspace prison cell, actually. It’s poetic, isn’t it? With all the crap she’s done she was bound to end up in either prison or a looney bin soon enough anyway. It’s actually fitting that she’s quite literally locked inside her own brain now. Shame for you that I swallowed the key.” 

“When you die, I really hope it hurts.” He grumbled, turning around with watery eyes and yanking her forward deeper into the woods.

“Rude.” She scoffed, following him reluctantly, “And it’s already painful. I’m just swimming in an ocean of Clarke’s regrets. It’s a freaking minefield up here, seriously. This girl has  _ baggage _ . I don’t know why she’s so adamant on living.”

Bellamy ducked under a branch, moving it up and out of the way for Josephine to follow. 

“She can’t even face you. Something about a fighting pit?” Bellamy kicked himself for stopping short in his steps, all it did was tell her she was on the right track, “So it is, then.” 

Josephine hummed, stepping closer to Bellamy so she could almost whisper, “I’m curious, why haven’t I had the pleasure of meeting Octavia? She seems like fun according to Clarke’s memories. I have a feeling we’d get along, what with all the warpaint and the murdering.” 

Bellamy stepped farther away, keeping the distance between them to a maximum. He hoped she didn’t notice the discreet shaking of his head. 

Was attacking Clarke not enough? Now she was onto his sister?

“Sounds badass to me,” She mumbled, “What I don’t understand is why Clarke is oh so forgivable, but Bloodreina isn’t? Their body counts are around the same. Are we playing favorites, Mr.Blake?” 

“Oh, you know what?” Josephine stopped moving, eyes widening with mock enthusiasm and surprise as she smiled, “I just remembered something else about the cannibal queen!”

Bellamy bit down on his bottom lip, using every ounce of self control he had to not to take the bait. He jerked the chain towards him, urging Josephine to follow. Taking extra time to chat was doing Clarke no favors, and if they were already struggling for time, well… 

“She’s your sister! Now that’s interesting!” She clapped her hands together once, raising her brows, “So I have to know: did the knack for eating people skip a generation?” 

Bellamy turned around with fire in his eyes, glowering at the girl in front of him as she stepped towards him with staggered steps. 

“Or are you vegetarian?”

“Will you shut the hell up?” He yelled, finally cracking.

Josephine smirked, clearly content with finally getting a reaction.

“Touchy, touchy.” 

He just turned again and continued walking. He was getting sick of this stop and go.

“Nothing you’re saying is going to make a difference, I can see right through it. Save your breath.” 

“mhm,” Josephine hummed, “and what are you seeing through?”

“You’re trying to make me think that you’re brave.”

_ Brave Princess _

“Or unconvinced of my plan.”

_ The only way the ark is going to think I’m dead, is if I’m dead. _

“Or maybe you just get some sick pleasure out of poking at my past.”

_ Every stupid thing you did, you did for your sister. _

“But you see, I don’t think it’s any of those things. I think you’re chatting my ear off because you’re trying to hide the fact that you’re really just scared out of your damn mind.”

_ If anything happens to me…  _

Josephine laughed, but her voice came out tight and strained, “Oh really?” 

“Yeah, really.” Bellamy confirmed, “You and I both know that you’re screwed here. Either Clarke survives, or you both die. There is no way this plays out that you win. So shut up, follow me, and let’s save the one person who can actually be saved.” 

“You know, I was wondering what Clarke saw in you. You’re not as badass and selfish as the other one. More self righteous. But after that,” She raised her eyebrows, “I get it.” 

“You’re impossible.” He groaned.

“And you’re right. We  _ are _ both gonna die. Can you live with that?” 

Bellamy swallowed, keeping his head high and eyes forward. Josephine was a manipulator for a living- he shouldn’t be listening to a word she was saying. But, he couldn’t stop.

“Crap.” 

Bellamy turned around at the pained whine, squinting his eyes when they landed on the thick stream of black falling steadily from Cl- Josephine’s nose.

“You’re bleeding.” He mumbled, concern lacing his voice.

He approached her with fast steps, eyes widening.

“Thanks, genius.” She scoffed, reaching up and wiping away the blood with her sleeve, “Our brain is getting weaker.” 

“ _ Clarke’s  _ brain.” Bellamy corrected, voice fierce. 

“Like it matters,” She said quickly before slowing her words for emphasis, “At this point, even if you do rescue sleeping beauty, there may already be irreversible damage.”

Bellamy felt bile creep up the back of his throat like a stream of hot lava. He turned his head quickly, not wanting Josephine to see the pain and worry that was undoubtedly written all across his face. 

“Keep walking Bellamy, we’re losing daylight.” She sneered, smirking wildly as she mocked him by jumping ahead and pulling her wrists towards her chest so he was tugged forward. 

Bellamy looked down to his feet, took a deep, steadying breath, and then proceeded to hasten his steps to take the lead once again.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” He said with finality.

Then he fell back into the abyss of silence. Josephine continued to jab at him and make well-aimed and nasty remarks, but he stayed unresponsive. 

Bellamy locked it down. He bit back that once and it led to a series of stopping. There was no way he could continue that and risk losing any more time.

She tormented him about Lincoln.

Mount weather.

Jaspar.

Monty.

She mocked him over Octavia.

Gina.

Raven.

Maya.

Through all of it he walked forward. He continued covering land, heart aching but head focused.

That was until… 

“Bellamy, if you can hear me…” 

He stopped, stunned.

It was  _ her _ voice. It was  _ her _ . 

He whipped around, eyes wide and watering. 

“Where was I? Oh right, Polis.”

His heart sunk to the ground at the smirk and raised brow on her face. Nothing about her features were familiar. It was Josephine. But her voice…

“Up until that moment I thought I could live in the bunker with the others. With my mom. I can't bear the thought of leaving her down there. But the hard truth is I could dig for years and never reach that door.”

It clicked in his brain.

This was in no way Clarke, but it was her words. Josephine was tormenting him with the one thing she hadn’t cracked yet. The one thing he only knew about on a surface level.

The radio calls.

“I’ve been by myself for two months, but this is the first time I feel alone. It's like we were never here. Maybe we never should’ve been. How the hell am i gonna make it five years?”

He wanted to hug her or punch her or just  _ something _ . But he couldn’t. He couldn’t move from where he was standing.

“I came to arkadia looking for food or water, but all I found were ghosts. Part of me thinks Jaspar had the right idea. What’s the point if all there is is pain and suffering?”

Josephine continued to mock, voice an octave lower than her own, “Real cheerful clarke. I’m sorry. Ignore me okay? I haven’t had water in 2 days. I need to find some soon or… I don’t think im gonna… Anyway, I doubt you can hear me on this piece of crap radio, but in case this is the last time I get to do this, I just wanna say: Please don't feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to do.”

And then came the final bullet.

“I'm proud of you.”

Bellamy finally let a tear slip through. Seeing her face, and hearing those words… it  _ hurt. _

It hurt on a deep, cellular level.

More than hurt, it was  _ agonizing _ . 

He couldn’t even be mad at Josephine. Couldn’t yell or scream and tell her to stop.

“In all seriousness, she really cared about you. She told me to tell you all that she loved you.” Josephine sighed, eyes pleading, “Let her rest. Set her free. She’s accepted it, she wants it. You can give it to her. If you do love her, you know she deserves peace.” 

He’d be ashamed to admit that for a second he considered it. But then he remembered ALIVE. If Clarke wanted to die, she wouldn’t have told him she was alive. 

So Bellamy just turned and pulled her forward, more determined than ever.

“You’re wrong.”


End file.
